My Thoughts On Intuit's Live Bookkeeping Offer

I’m sure you must have heard by now about this new test that Intuit are doing with Live Bookkeeping.

This has struck a nerve for many people, and all over social media I have been seeing angry comments and complaints.

Many people have already come forward with their thoughts on the situation.

Kirk Bowman says in his and Hector Garcia’s Podcast What If Intuit/QuickBooks Offer Bookkeeping Services?:

“My take on this, is that it is no threat to professional bookkeepers and accountants. In my opinion Intuit is reaching out to serve a segment of the market that they currently perceive is not being served. I don’t think they are trying to go into competition with their ProAdvisors.”

I agree with what Kirk is saying here. In fact both Kirk and Hector make many great points on their podcast.

Which is why I find it a little bit strange that Intuit is suggesting that business owners can get bookkeeping work done for such low flat fee rates.

It goes against what they say in their Firm of the Future programme where they advocate moving to value pricing. It goes against the messages they have been sending for the past few years.

It’s confusing.

Are they really supporting the accounting community?

This is something being questioned by many in the ProAdvisor community.

I believe they are, but we need a clearer explanation as to what they are really trying to achieve with this new strategy.

I think they are trying to do the right thing, but they’ve done it in the wrong way.

The world is changing fast.

Bookkeeping is increasingly becoming automated. We all know this.

Accountants, CPAs and bookkeepers alike, all have to consistently adapt to keep up with the ever-changing profession.

This isn’t new information.

Hector Garcia in his podcast predicts in ten years from now all bookkeeping work will be automated. I agree with him.

Cloud Accounting is changing so much. We know that we have to add more value to our service.

These can be exciting times for the people willing to make the move to value pricing.

In his blog Bookkeeping is Dead: How Intuit Will Kill It For Good, Blake Oliver explains:

“This new bookkeeping offering may come as a shock to many QuickBooks ProAdvisors (Intuit’s channel partners), but this is not a new concept for Intuit. The company has been doing it for years on the tax side of the business.”